Don't become a competitor of your customers

Pollers is located on the border of Lummen and Heusden-Zolder, from where it serves customers throughout the Benelux. The Limburg-based family business explicitly specializes in prototype construction and manufacturing from single pieces to small series. We spoke with Jeroen Kums, operations manager at Pollers.

MACHINING IN FIGURES

Material-wise, Pollers processes all ferrous and nonferrous metals and plastics. About 80 to 85% of the material processed is steel in all its varieties. The rest is mainly aluminum, and of course stainless steel. Plastic, in turn, represents a very small share.

Dimensionally, Pollers can handle a wide range: for turning work, that ranges from parts the size of a fountain pen, to pieces 4 meters between centers, and 1.05 meters above the slide. For milling, in turn, parts that range in scale from a matchbox to the really larger pieces with lengths up to 14.4 meters pass through. 

Three groups of customers

That broad dimensional horizon of Pollers makes for an equally diverse customer base. Jeroen Kums: "We can divide our clientele into three groups. Production companies, machine builders and customers who entrust us with their total project. 

"Manufacturing companies usually fall back on Pollers for their spare parts. This often involves a limited number of pieces, with recurring parts that we were previously authorized to make for the same customer. In fact, we have a number of contracts running within this framework. Not infrequently, the part or, if available, the work drawing is then sent to us. The latter especially by customers who have their own engineering department. When no technical documentation of the part is available, we measure the piece, and work out a technical drawing ourselves."

Another type of customer is the machine builder, who buys his semi-finished products from Pollers. Concrete parts, or also sub-compositions, which are delivered welded, milled, painted, or also partially pre-assembled. The further finishing or construction within the larger whole is then taken care of by the customer. 

The third type is the project or also called one-stop shop customer, who opts for a total purchase. In most cases, these customers submit a drawing file to Pollers, after which the entire installation is built mechanically. "Once we have finished the mechanical part, the installation is handed back to the customer, who will then build in cabling, pneumatics, and any hydraulics. However, it also happens that the customer takes care of this further construction with his people at our location," says Kums.

SPECIALIZATION

Pollers, however, sticks strictly to the mechanical in each such project. Apart from the expertise factor, this also has a very different, important reason. Kums: "To enter into electrical, hydraulic or, for example, pneumatic territory would be tantamount to competing directly with a significant part of our own customers. This is why we limit ourselves to our strong mechanical specialization."

FUTURE

On this basis, moreover, the company's business model continues to evolve. Where Pollers used to focus on supplying single parts, the commitment is now going further and further. As a "one-stop shop" for the coming years, the company intends to focus more and more on the typical project customer anyway, to whom it offers both experience and thinking along. 

Kums: "We also focus on the larger work, where we are a major player. That's why we recently invested in a new SORALUCE FLP14000 fixed-bed milling machine, in addition to our existing SP16000, which was full year-round and in two shifts. Our new FLP14000 is a three-axis milling machine that features a per-degree, all-way indexable octagonal head with a reach of up to 14 meters. This allows the machine to surface a part of, say, 12 meters two-sided, allowing us to serve a very broad clientele from all possible sectors such as mechanical engineering, chemicals, concrete manufacturing, and also agriculture."